Shows
Platypod, The CASTAC PodcastThe Ecosystem Multiple: Navigating the Transatlantic Fate of Biosphere 1 ½This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Elie Danziger can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2025/05/the-ecosystem-multiple-navigating-the-transatlantic-fate-of-biosphere-1-%c2%bd/. About the post: Experimental "ecosystems" emerge from the relation between facilities. The DSE case shows how ecosystems are defined relationally, not only through interoperability (as with LEO), but also through ever-analogical definitions: the "ecosystem" idea is located at the meeting point of fully-interdependent instantiations by various experimental facilities across continents. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2025-05-0800 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFrom Bin to Bank: Recycling Household Waste in Urban IndonesiaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Jiwon Kim can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2025/04/from-bin-to-bank-recycling-household-waste-in-urban-indonesia/. About the post: Environmental activists and industry professionals were hesitant to view them more than “housewives’ plaything (main-mainan).” The quantity of waste banks’ contribution to handling household waste pale in comparison to that of the informal waste pickers. Meanwhile, the members of waste banks themselves often describe their activity as “just social (sosial),” implying its communal nature is predicated on the absence of economic aspirations. This essay is an attempt to create a generative interval bet...2025-04-1000 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastWho Will Protect Andean Potatoes in the Near Future? Uncertainties About the Next Generation of Native Potato ConservationistsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Sebastian Zarate can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2025/04/who-will-protect-andean-potatoes-in-the-near-future-uncertainties-about-the-next-generation-of-native-potato-conservationists/. About the post: While potato farmers have been referred to as “guardians” of agrobiodiversity, little attention has been brought to the precarity of the continuity of this guardianship. The lack of youth and women farmers present at annual meetings and events puts into question who will be the agrodiversity guardians when the older generations of potato farmers pass on. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2025-04-0800 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastExperimental Methodologies for Listening to the Present: An Interview with Alejandra Osejo-VaronaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Alejandra Osejo-Varona, Karina Aranda and nicolás gaitán-albarracín can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2025/03/experimental-methodologies-for-listening-to-the-present-an-interview-with-alejandra-osejo-varona/. About the post: Feminist critiques and environmental anthropology explore the human and the non-human as something in constant production in relation to other beings. This has helped to relativize the centrality of word and vision. It has made it possible to draw on other senses to produce ethnographic knowledge and has given rise to new, more experimental methods. (This episode is available in additional languages on Pla...2025-03-1300 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastOn Menstruation and Feeling ShameThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Rosario Rm can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/12/on-menstruation-and-feeling-shame/. About the post: Menstruation as a subject of study is not new. Margaret Mead, Mary Douglas, Chris Bobel, Miren Guillo, and Karina Felitti, among many others, have discussed how menstruation has been related to specific practices, and how taboos present great dynamism and variability as specific cultural constructions frequently linked to systems of bodily control and gender. In this article, I present the advances of research that explores how taboos associated with menstruation are...2024-12-1900 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastThe Evolution of the Digital Divide: New Dimensions of Digital InequalityThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Guillermo Echauri can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/11/the-evolution-of-the-digital-divide-new-dimensions-of-digital-inequality/. About the post: From the emergence of the Web, through milestones such as the rise of mobile phones and social media, and up to the current hype around AI, the development, access, and use of digital technologies have not been exempted from the impact of prevailing global inequalities, especially socio-economic ones. As these disparities emerge between regions, nations, societies and communities, digital inequalities continue to arise through various means and ways. (This episode is...2024-11-1908 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastHow to Create Figurations and Inhabit Feminist STS Research: A DIY ManualThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Clarissa Reche can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/10/how-to-create-figurations-and-inhabit-feminist-sts-research-a-diy-manual/. About the post: This is a DIY manual for working with figurations to inhabit feminist STS research. The methodological proposal of figuration, as described by Haraway, places us once again at the center of a basic procedure of technoscience, making us stay with the trouble. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-10-1715 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastChaotic Oscillation: Understanding the Paradoxical Presence of Video Games in Contemporary SocietyThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Iván Flores can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/10/chaotic-oscillation-understanding-the-paradoxical-presence-of-video-games-in-contemporary-society/. About the post: Common sense tells us that play and work are opposing categories. However, in our society, we often encounter situations where the boundaries between these two categories become difficult to distinguish. It's common that people earn money from hobbies—activities that common sense typically does not associate with the effort required for any form of work and mostly because they are fun. These include recording oneself dancing on the street, doing pro...2024-10-0112 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastCritical Metals, Magic Tricks, and Energy Transition: A Social Biography of LithiumThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by María Fernanda Lartigue Marín can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/09/critical-metals-magic-tricks-and-energy-transition-a-social-biography-of-lithium/. About the post: By exploring lithium's social biography, I hope to offer an example of ways in which anthropology can interrogate the magic tricks and technofixes that have come into existence in the context of global cooperation for climate change mitigation. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-09-2610 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFrom a Hashtag to the Right for Indoor Air Quality: A Short Story of the #covidisairborne MovementThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Beatriz Klimeck can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/09/from-a-hashtag-to-the-right-for-indoor-air-quality-a-short-story-of-the-covidisairborne-movement/. About the post: Isolated during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, I started to follow on Twitter (social media platform now called X) a few scientists who were dedicating part of their time to share information about disease prevention. From that personal curiosity emerged an interest in a feud happening between tweets, likes and retweets: the World Health Organization had tweeted a "fact-checking" publication stating that Covid was not airborne. (This episode is...2024-09-0315 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFoucault, Dialectics, and Randomized Clinical Trials: Bridges Between Medicine and AnthropologyThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ana Paula Pimentel Jacob can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/08/foucault-dialectics-and-randomized-clinical-trials-bridges-between-medicine-and-anthropology/. About the post: I hope that other scientists understand anthropology, but at the same time, it’s essential that anthropology also enters other spaces and accepts invitations outside of its own citadel. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-08-2919 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFrom Foraging to Keeping Bees in Northeast BrazilThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Cydney Seigerman can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/08/from-foraging-to-keeping-bees-in-northeast-brazil/. About the post: For Rogério and other meleiros, greater awareness of the environmental impact of their foraging practices developed through their transition from meleiro to apicultor (apiarist or beekeeper). Yet some former meleiros explained that they eventually began to cut out only part of the beehive to preserve the colony’s integrity, illustrating how the introduction of beekeeping was not required for all meleiros to develop greater environmental awareness. (This episode is available in a...2024-08-2716 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastChallenging Normalized Surveillance: “Birds on the Wire” Surveillance in MexicoThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Mariel Garcia-Montes can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/08/challenging-normalized-surveillance-birds-on-the-wire-surveillance-in-mexico/. About the post: The ways that surveillance technology is acquired and deployed, often in the name of security, contributes to the establishment of a culture where surveillance is normalized. However, this move is not devoid of tensions, as the high social costs of surveillance efforts become visible and sectors of civil society begin to challenge the emerging sociotechnical status quo. I also point to the ways that these developments have made an impact beyond...2024-08-0620 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastQuestioning the Market: How Does the South Korean "Camming" (Beot-bang) Market Grow?This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Yuna Hwang can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/08/questioning-the-market-how-did-the-south-korean-camming-beot-bang-market-grow/. About the post: Drawing on new economic sociology to consider markets as social networks, along with a historical-institutional perspective emphasizing the sociopolitical contexts that enable market construction and operation (Chun and Lee, 2023), this work approaches Boet-bang markets as socio-cultural constructs rather than a priori phenomenon. So, in what political and institutional context was the Beot-bang market created in Korea? (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-08-0115 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastTrolling: Breaking Rules, Poking Fun, or Just Outright Harassment?This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Chu May Paing can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/07/trolling-breaking-rules-poking-fun-or-just-outright-harassment/. About the post: What is the social function of trolling and in what context can trolling be an empowering act for those of us who are already systematically marginalized? What are the ways in which we could reduce online harm and harassment like this incident? (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-07-3014 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastDigital Anthropology of the Senses: Connecting Technology and Culture Through the Sensory WorldThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Adriana Moreno can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/07/digital-anthropology-of-the-senses-connecting-technology-and-culture-through-the-sensory-world/. About the post: This post explores the relevance of studying the senses, particularly hearing and touch, from a digital anthropological perspective, taking advantage of the vast offer of audiovisual and transmedia content that already exists on the Internet: socio-digital platforms and streaming services. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-07-2311 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastCards and Codes: Spirituality and Magic in the (Bio)technological EraThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by PEDRO DE MEDEIROS can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/07/cards-and-codes-spirituality-and-magic-in-the-biotechnological-era/. About the post: My proposal is to create a magical tool, a tarot deck, that provokes thought about how mystical and religious elements permeate the advancement of science and technology, especially in the field of biotechnology, and are in constant confluence with all aspects surrounding it: academia, startups, investors, and the like. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-07-1113 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastBetween the Bitterness of Anonymity and Ethics is Racism: Reflections for Anthropological Research on Science in the 'Backyard'This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by João Paulo Siqueira can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/06/between-the-bitterness-of-anonymity-and-ethics-is-racism-reflections-for-anthropological-research-on-science-in-the-backyard/. About the post: Therefore, my contribution to the discussion circle was to challenge the idea that we conduct research "at home" or "in our own backyard," as my interlocutors and I were constantly reminded in the field that this was not our place, much less our home. This highlights the constitutive nature of racial relations in these dynamics, given that my interlocutors and I are Black researchers, while all members of the i...2024-06-2022 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastWhat Will Be Lost: A Cat, a Man with a Horse, and the Battle at CourtThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Carolina Angel Botero can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/06/what-will-be-lost-a-cat-a-man-with-a-horse-and-the-battle-at-court/. About the post: This essay joins ethnographic fieldwork with a visual storyboard to explore speculative futures that arise from ongoing processes of dispossession and loss in the foothills of the Andes mountains in Central Chile. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-06-1314 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastOn Observing: Reflections on UN Climate Policy Negotiations from Paris to the PresentThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Katie Foster can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/05/on-observing-reflections-on-un-climate-policy-negotiations-from-paris-to-the-present/. About the post: What has changed from COP 21 to COP 28? How do evolving global conditions influence the process? And what does the act of observing allow within multilateral spaces and the policy-making process? (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-05-3019 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastWaves of Well-being: Surfing at the Shaka Surf Club in Kodi Bengre, IndiaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Laura Werle can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/05/waves-of-well-being-surfing-at-the-shaka-surf-club-in-kodi-bengre-india/. About the post: The research described in this post aimed to provide insights to improve low-cost mental health support and interventions in coastal areas and fisher communities in India. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-05-2111 minPlatypod, The CASTAC Podcast“We had to rethink many, many things”: Reflexivity in Scientific Practices during the Zika Epidemic in Recife, BrazilThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Thais Valim can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/04/we-had-to-rethink-many-many-things-reflexivity-in-scientific-practices-during-the-zika-epidemic-in-recife-brazil/. About the post: This piece explores how local experiences with the Zika epidemic in Recife, Brazil, have impacted Brazilian scientists' research practices more broadly, namely, how it made them more reflexive about knowledge production and science making. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-04-2500 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastSpatial Approaches to Livestreaming: A Methodological Exploration in Digital EthnographyThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Soojin Kim can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/04/spatial-approaches-to-livestreaming-a-methodological-exploration-in-digital-ethnography/. About the post: This is my reflection on the frustrations that I encountered during the initial phases of my fieldwork within AfreecaTV. Between late 2016 and early 2018, I conducted "online" and "offline" ethnographic fieldwork for my master’s thesis on the livestreaming culture. This journey led me to explore spatial approaches to digital ethnography, which I will discuss in this post. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-04-1600 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastTwo Insomniacs Discuss Routine and Restlessness Through Google TrackingThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Alexandra Dantzer can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/04/two-insomniacs-discuss-routine-and-restlessness-through-google-tracking/. About the post: This piece approaches questions about life, time-waste, routine, and restlessness through a different lens. Namely, Google tracking data serve as an elicitation device and a conversation starter to help me think about the everyday routines and rhythms of the lives of people I have talked with, as well as my own routines. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-04-0400 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastBed-Time StorytellingThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Fei Yuan can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/03/bed-time-storytelling/. About the post: Memories, hallucinations, and unfulfilled dreams are narrated from the bed during the final chapters of life. I seek to highlight the experiences of those in the hospice ward who, despite being confined to their beds, are actively living through their final moments, rather than just waiting out their last days. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-03-1209 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastWho Knows About Ethical Research?: Reflections on Research Ethics and Vulnerability in Abortion ResearchThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Lea Happ can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2024/03/who-knows-about-ethical-research-reflections-on-research-ethics-and-vulnerability-in-abortion-research/. About the post: As a feminist researcher, I have found it at times difficult to navigate the complex nexus of agency and vulnerability. Ultimately, for me, doing feminist research means centring the particular circumstances of my research site and foregrounding the voices of those who draw their expertise from their life and work when determining methodological, ethical, and conceptual approaches. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2024-03-0516 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPlatypod, Episode Eight: CASPR 2023In this special episode, we revisit the 2023 edition of CASPR: CASTAC in the Spring, an annual online event held by CASTAC. This year, guest speakers convened to discuss the topic of "digital ethnography."
Transcript available at https://blog.castac.org/2023/12/platypod-episode-eight-caspr-2023/2023-12-1200 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastHigh Costs, Entangled Politics: What All Comes Inside a Medication’s PackagingThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Lucas Nishida can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/11/high-costs-entangled-politics-what-all-comes-inside-a-medications-packaging/. About the post: In this process, the medication is not merely a chemical compound but is a product of and produces a network of relationships: with clinical trials and research results, with research subjects and their hopes and activism, with a production industry and its private health logic, with international intellectual property agreements and patent records, with a global drug market. All of this comes imported with the medication packaging when it comes to...2023-11-2100 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastBelly Versus Bin: How Digital Autoethnography Brought Me Back From the Brink of Disordered EatingThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Madhura Rao can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/11/belly-versus-bin-how-digital-autoethnography-brought-me-back-from-the-brink-of-disordered-eating/. About the post: I had become adept at ignoring rancid smells and increasingly comfortable with cutting off mouldy bits before consuming a visibly deteriorating product. These developments concerned me but not enough to pause and reflect. If food was going in my belly, it was staying out of the bin and that was a good thing.2023-11-1414 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastOn Algorithmic DivinationThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Rebecca Carlson, Heikki Wilenius and Jonathan Corliss can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/10/on-algorithmic-divination/. About the post: Algorithms are tools of divination. Like cowry shells, scapular bones or spiders trapped under a pot, algorithms are marshaled to detect and relay invisible patterns; to bring to light a truth which is out there, but which cannot ordinarily be seen.2023-10-3114 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPlastic Chronicles: Navigating Mumbai’s Material MazesThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Adwaita Banerjee can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/10/plastic-chronicles-navigating-mumbais-material-mazes/. About the post: It is here, amidst a sea of discarded materials, that a relationship evolves—one between the waste pickers, the myriad forms of plastics, and the urban space that surrounds them. This bond is grounded in empirical observations that bring order to the chaotic array of plastics, tying together the intricate dance of humans and materials within the city's polyphonic rhythms.2023-10-2415 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFuneral for an EmbryoThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Manon Lefevre can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/10/funeral-for-an-embryo/. About the post: Not long ago, it seemed that the science lab and the Catholic cemetery were two distinct worlds. Yet, surprising discursive and material connections complicate that dominant narrative. Rather, I found that the two sides of the laboratory walls were already entangled in surprising ways.2023-10-1716 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastHow to Imagine the Unknown: Choosing an Arm ProsthesisThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Gabrielle Hanley-Mott can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/10/how-to-imagine-the-unknown-choosing-an-arm-prosthesis/. About the post: An important cause of anxiety for her was how to choose a prosthetic and which one to choose. According to her, during one appointment, her doctor gave her a prosthetics catalog to look through, which she found useless. Without being able to see how someone would use different types of hooks, or someone to explain how two myoelectric elbows were different, that catalog was just a bewildering list with pictures.2023-10-1212 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastStaring ContestThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Sophie Katz can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/10/staring-contest/. About the post: In the ICU, I watch my patients closely with my eyes, my hands, my machines. The more carefully I monitor them, the more keenly I feel myself being watched by a gaze I ultimately cannot return. And am I not gazing at the patient in the same way?2023-10-1008 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastThe Wild PantryThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Muneezay Jaffery can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/10/the-wild-pantry/. About the post: The project we are working on is Plant Planet Plate, which brings together the work of the Green Shoots Foundation, which is led by me (a geographer), in rural development and agriculture with the research and skills in plant humanities of Dr. Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam, a medical anthropologist. Our fieldwork consists of conducting 50 interviews with people living in Oddar Meanchey Province, located in the North West of Cambodia, on wild...2023-10-0319 minPlatypod, The CASTAC Podcast"The Day I Discovered I Was Collaborating on a Eugenics Project": On Imponderables in Collaborative ResearchThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Sandra Avila and Marisol Marini can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/09/the-day-i-discovered-i-was-collaborating-on-a-eugenics-project-on-imponderables-in-collaborative-research/. About the post: One day Avila realized that the recommendation she had received from the dermatologist to exclude samples of fingernails, palms, and feet did not simply exclude "confusing samples," as the specialist stated, but the possibility of identifying the highest incidence of skin cancer in black populations, which occurs precisely in those parts of the body with the lowest melanin index. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus...2023-09-2611 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastMaking Companion Species at a Robotics LabThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Patrick Kho can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/09/making-companion-species-at-a-robotics-lab/. About the post: Approaching robots as companion species, we find the significance of storytelling in robot experiments. We find that science fiction fundamentally shapes the research questions asked, while research findings pose serious considerations regarding humans. In robotics research, then, humans and robots are constantly re-constructed, re-shaped, and re-defined by one another.2023-09-2114 minPlatypod, The CASTAC Podcast"Blooming Biomes Mean Blooming Profits": 'Nature-based' Industrial Farming and the Politics of the Industrial Animal MicrobiomeThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Maggie Mang can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/09/blooming-biomes-mean-blooming-profits-nature-based-industrial-farming-and-the-politics-of-the-industrial-animal-microbiome/. About the post: This blog post details how hype, imaginations, and promises over the industrial animal microbiome circulate in industrial agritech circles. Such images, claims, and examples drive home the point that industrial animal metabolism – and the probiotic, ‘natural,’ patented tools designed to optimize it – is considered to be a profitable next frontier.2023-09-1213 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastAI as a Feminist IssueThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/09/ai-as-a-feminist-issue/. About the post: For this episode, we'll read a story written earlier this year. This is a story about the public funding of artificial intelligence in the US and how that's a feminist issue. We asked aman agah, a scholar and researcher in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University, to read the story for us.2023-09-0508 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFemale Truck Drivers in China Navigate Gender Norms on DouyinThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Anna Zhang can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/08/female-truck-drivers-in-china-navigate-gender-norms-on-douyin/. About the post: Over the course of a month, I examined the content of four popular female truck drivers on the platform. I explored how their efforts to change the narrative of truck driving and empower themselves and their peers are both informed by and confronted with gendered norms. Their experiences reveal the entanglement of gender inequalities in the seemingly distant worlds of shipping and online entertainment.2023-08-2212 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastBetween Pain and Relief: Morphine's Ambiguities in IndiaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Nick Surawy Stepney and Nishanth Kunnukattil Shaji can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/08/between-pain-and-relief-morphines-ambiguities-in-india/. About the post: Morphine, the gold standard of medically prescribed painkillers, offers a troubling medical story, evoking in equal measure the contingent histories of pleasure and war, relief and addiction, commerce, and regulation.2023-08-1712 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastMadam CisternThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Cydney Seigerman can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/08/madam-cistern/. About the post: It’s been a long time since someone has fetched water from me. I’m old now, dried up… it rained a lot this winter, but I am no longer able to hold on to the rain that falls. My time has come to an end… (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2023-08-1515 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFake, Real, Real, Fake: Salvarsan on the US Medical MarketThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Colin Garon can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/08/fake-real-real-fake-salvarsan-on-the-us-medical-market/. About the post: Who could claim medical expertise? Should healers be allowed to advertise? What cures should laypeople be able to purchase for themselves? In the case of Salvarsan, the complex interplay of fakery and reality, which Cramp sought to discipline into clearly bounded regimes of (il)legitimacy, was in fact dictated by complex pattens of production and distribution, advertising and demand, and epistemic and therapeutic authority.2023-08-0814 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastHippocrates Against Protocols: Experiments, Experience, and Evidence-Based Medicine in BrazilThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Rosana Castro can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/07/hippocrates-against-protocols-experiments-experience-and-evidence-based-medicine-in-brazil/. About the post: This episode addresses the processes in which science is being claimed, shaken, disputed, and unpredictably rearticulated in Brazil's medical field. Specifically, It considers denialist practices and movements during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on an ethnographic approach to a variety of actions by medical groups and institutions that are critical of vaccination against Covid-19 and instead defend the use of drugs (considered ineffective by others) for the “early treatment” of the disease, this...2023-07-2529 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastAI, Climate Adaptation, and Epistemic InjusticeThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Angelina Chamuah, Hema Vaishnavi Ale and Vikrom Mathur can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/07/ai-climate-adaptation-and-epistemic-injustice/. About the post: Acknowledging the cultural, relational, and contextual dimensions of climate change is crucial in the realms of science, policy, and practice. While the deployment of AI has the potential to aid decision-making processes, it must be approached with caution to prevent exacerbating underlying injustices.2023-07-2017 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastTokens, Voids, and Archives: Locating Berlin's NFT ProjectsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Spencer Kaplan can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/07/tokens-voids-and-archives-locating-berlins-nft-projects/. About the post: Berlin joins cities like Los Angeles, New York, Lisbon, and London as a hub of blockchain ventures. Yet Berlin’s NFT projects, Immersion included, stand out in an important way. Projects elsewhere are typically detached from their physical places of origin, taking on a generic, if not sanitized, aesthetic. In sharp contrast, projects launched in Berlin tend to incorporate their local origins, taking on the city’s famously gritty and countercultural ethos...2023-07-1814 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastWays of Knowing: Lessons on Agroecological Transitions from a Pothwari FarmThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ayesha Shahid can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/07/ways-of-knowing-lessons-on-agroecological-transitions-from-a-pothwari-farm/. About the post: As a researcher and self-identifying ‘citizen planner,’ I was curious if new methods of agriculture could make the sector remunerative enough to counter the desire to convert agricultural land into real estate. Since I was familiar with the emerging significance of agroecology and regenerative agriculture in climate adaptation, I was motivated to understand what it would take to help us transition towards practices closer to agroecology. (This episode is available in addit...2023-07-1115 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastA Vocabulary for Junk in Four MovementsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Rebecca Carlson, Emil Rieger and Sarah Thanner can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/07/a-vocabulary-for-junk-in-four-movements/. About the post: Trash and uselessness are related but not the same. Trash is problematic and needs to leave our ideological boundaries, useless things we still view in terms of former or potential use. They are not quite trash precisely because they are defined through their lack of use, which requires continuous evaluation not discarding from our thoughts (revisit from time to time > Confirm: Yep, still useless. Trash: Too...2023-07-0621 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastJunk Anthropology: A Manifesto for Trashing and UntrashingThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Rebecca Carlson can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/07/junk-anthropology-a-manifesto-for-trashing-and-untrashing/. About the post: But what does something like “junk” have to do with mice ear punches, chemical transmutation and mundane laboratory failures? Garbage experiments are routine in scientific practice after all. But as any scientist might tell you, failure can be its own kind of productive.2023-07-0419 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastEarth, Air, Fire, Water, and Entropy: Internet and Synthetic Biology Pioneer Randy Rettberg’s Story on How Information Was ForgedThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Clarissa Reche and Érico Sant Anna Perrella can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/06/earth-air-fire-water-and-entropy-internet-and-synthetic-biology-pioneer-randy-rettbergs-story-on-how-information-was-forged/. About the post: When questioned by us about the origins of the concept of information, Randy alternates between great historical facts, such as the second world war, memories of his work in laboratories, and intimate family memories. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2023-06-2723 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastMaking Bioethnographic Teams Work: Disciplinary Destabilization, Generative Friction, and the Role of MediatorsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Zoe Boudart and Catherine Borra can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/06/making-bioethnographic-teams-work-disciplinary-destabilization-generative-friction-and-the-role-of-mediators/. About the post: The making of truly interdisciplinary knowledge often requires overcoming epistemological paradigms through disciplinary destabilization. Mediators both manage interdisciplinary tensions and foster the generative friction that emerges, allowing for new kinds of knowledge to be produced together.2023-06-2210 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastHow Microbes Became Friendly: Visualizations of the Microbiome in Public MediaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Janelle Curry and Alexandra Widmer can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/06/how-microbes-became-friendly-visualizations-of-the-microbiome-in-public-media/. About the post: We take up these insights and examine one way that these ontologies of body and environment circulate in public ways by analyzing how the human body is depicted in relation to microbes and environments through public visualizations of the human microbiome. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2023-06-1514 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastSetting Traps: For an Insurgent and Joyful ScienceThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Clarissa Reche can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/05/setting-traps-for-an-insurgent-and-joyful-science/. About the post: This text is an outline of a proposal for a feminist and decolonial strategy to be and remain working and producing techno-scientific knowledge within academic institutions. The author presents the trap as such a strategy, a kind of low-intensity guerrilla technique so that we, marked bodies, can establish alliances and move within structures that are essentially bourgeois, masculine and Western. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC...2023-05-2500 minPlatypod, The CASTAC Podcast"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?": Food, Cooking, and Eating in Video GamesThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/05/is-this-the-real-life-is-this-just-fantasy-food-cooking-and-eating-in-videogames/. About the post: In this piece the author applies their concept of Digital Food Spaces (DFS), or "online communities and platforms dedicated to the sharing of food-centered ideas and media," to the realm of video-gaming.2023-05-0913 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastViolence/Freedom: Gender and the Politics of Surveillance in Public ParksThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Shanel Khaliq can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/05/violence-freedom-gender-and-the-politics-of-surveillance-in-public-parks/. About the post: Cities all over the world have witnessed a surge in the use of surveillance technologies, such as data-gathering phone apps, facial recognition software, and closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras among others, to address crime and safety in public spaces. While it may appear that these technologies unequivocally create a safe environment regardless of social identities, unresolved incidents of violence against women and transgender bodies in public spaces suggest otherwise.2023-05-0212 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastBirding in Ruins: Multispecies Encounters and the Ecologies of EvidenceThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Jaime Landinez can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/04/birding-in-ruins-multispecies-encounters-and-the-ecologies-of-evidence/. About the post: This piece explores the life forms that emerge in the ruins of capitalist dreams and the production of modest forms of evidence that seek to render them visible. It sees the sensorial practices prevalent among birdwatchers, such as long walks, careful listening and observation, and close attention to seemingly trivial acts (feeding, nesting, mating) as forms of evidence-making in the ruins of a once prosperous aquaculture farm.2023-04-2500 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastThe Perfect FitThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Claudio Benzecry can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/04/the-perfect-fit/. About the post: In my new book, The Perfect Fit: Creative Work in the Global Shoe Industry, I study the work of repair and maintenance necessary to keep the global scale going. I do so by studying the work and lives of experts in charge of design and development of shoes for the US market.2023-04-1814 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastThe Illness Experience of a Forty-year-old Hispanic WomanThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Yulany Foster-Valencia can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/04/the-illness-experience-of-a-forty-year-old-hispanic-woman/. About the post: Different cultural upbringings can determine a person’s illness experience. The relationship between the experience of a patient, and in turn, a course of treatment is inherently valuable to document.2023-04-1311 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastThe Use of Patent Information to Investigate Algorithmic SystemsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Debora Machado can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/04/the-use-of-patent-information-to-investigate-algorithmic-systems/. About the post: Patents are delicate documents to study. As a technological-legal text, the patent is not written in a manner that aims to ensure easy understanding for everyone. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2023-04-1115 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPlatypod, Episode Six: An Anthropology of Algorithmic Recommendation SystemsOn the morning of Friday, March 10, 2023 Nick Seaver and Ana Carolina met over Zoom to talk about his new book Computing Taste: Algorithms and Makers of Music Recommendation, which was published in 2022 by the University of Chicago Press. Transcript available at https://blog.castac.org/2023/04/an-anthropology-of-algorithmic-recommendation-systems/ (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2023-04-0600 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastMaking Forecasts Work: The Evolution of Seasonal Forecasting by Funceme in Ceará, Northeast BrazilThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Cydney Seigerman can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/04/making-forecasts-work-the-evolution-of-seasonal-forecasting-by-funceme-in-ceara-northeast-brazil/. About the post: For agricultural families in the sertão, or hinterlands, of Ceará, a forecast is wrong when it rains less (or more) in their community or municipality than what was “promised” by the forecast, and the highest probability becomes deterministic at a very fine scale. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2023-04-0412 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastDigital Multiples and Social MediaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Nicole Taylor and Mimi Nichter can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/03/digital-multiples-and-social-media/. About the post: Filtering the self is about every aspect of self-presentation, from the aesthetic of a person’s feed and their physical appearance to the personality characteristics and lifestyle they want to convey. Yet, all of this is bounded by a generational desire to remain authentic, meaning that there are limits to strategic self-expression online.2023-03-2816 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastTranspositioning, a Hypertext-ethnographyThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Rebecca Carlson can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/03/transpositioning-a-hypertext-ethnography/. About the post: This is a work of hypertext-ethnography. It is based on my research of a small genetics laboratory in Tokyo, Japan where I am studying the impact of the transnational circulation of scientific materials and practices (including programming) on the production of knowledge.2023-03-2156 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastDining with the Diaspora: Khmerican Digital GastrodiplomacyThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/03/dining-with-the-diaspora-khmerican-digital-gastrodiplomacy/. About the post: What people are eating, how they are eating it, and why they are eating it have been debated throughout time and space. With increased engagements with food with different types and layers of technologies, online food discourse has expanded rapidly. Yet people have been forming and joining online communities to share their ideas, experiences, and perspectives around food in multi-modal ways for decades. In this post, the author develops...2023-03-0712 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastGrafting with Care: Encountering Human-Plant Relations Through Experiments with RosesThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Tayeba Batool can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2023/02/grafting-with-care-encountering-human-plant-relations-through-experiments-with-roses/. About the post: Writing against the dominance of an object-oriented ontology in mainstream science and technology narratives, this post follows scholarship that emphasizes an “anthropology beyond the human” to center the connections between plants and humans as not only metaphorical but literal.2023-02-1409 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastLittle Experiments in Worldmaking with Amor Mundi LabThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by areeya tivasuradej and AMOR MUNDI Multispecies Ecological Worldmaking Lab can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/12/little-experiments-in-worldmaking-with-amor-mundi-lab/. About the post: In this episode, Areeya Tivasuradej and Amor Mundi Lab share their journey in creating an innovative collaborative space in Chiang Mai to learn and do multispecies ethnography together.2022-12-0817 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastUncovering Ethnography in Creative Practice Research with MachinesThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Oliver Bown can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/12/uncovering-ethnography-in-creative-practice-research-with-machines/. About the post: This blog post comes out of a discussion with Ritwik Banerji about the ‘hidden’ role of ethnography in the work involved in creating new experimental systems for music improvisation.2022-12-0612 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastYou Are What You Grow: Crops, Cultivation, and Caste in IndiaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Tanya Matthan can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/11/you-are-what-you-grow-crops-cultivation-and-caste-in-india/. About the post: Dr. Tanya Matthan reflects on her ethnographic work in Malwa, Central India and the remarkable importance of cultivated onions as embodiments of caste relationalities.2022-11-1515 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastToxicity, Violence, and the Legacies of Mercury and Gold Mining in ColombiaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Sebastián Rubiano-Galvis can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/11/toxicity-violence-and-the-legacies-of-mercury-and-gold-mining-in-colombia/. About the post: In this post, Sebastián Rubiano-Galvis explores the toxic legacies of mercury and gold mining in Colombia and asks how to repair this accumulated violence that intersects with other forms of inequality.2022-11-0913 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPlatypod, Episode Five: CASPR - CASTAC in the Spring 2022This episode presents a recording of CASPR 2022, or the CASTAC in the Spring 2022 mentoring event, organized to encourage dialogue on breaking down binaries that have separated academe and industry. Angela VandenBroek (TXTS), Melissa Cefkin (Waymo), and Dawn Nafus (Intel) discuss their work in leading socially-informed research in industry contexts. Transcript available at https://blog.castac.org/2022/11/playpod-episode-five-caspr-castac-in-the-spring-2022/2022-11-0346 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastEmbracing Black Positionalities, (Re)Centring Slowness: A Challenge to Anthropology’s Anti-Racism EffortsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Princess Banda can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/10/embracing-black-positionalities-recentring-slowness-a-challenge-to-anthropologys-anti-racism-efforts/. About the post: Anthropologist Princess Banda discusses the importance of centring slowness within anti-racist research and praxis while drawing on insights of her work on Black women’s maternal health disparities and obstetric racism.2022-10-1816 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastInjury and Fitness: Responsibility through BiomedicineThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ramsha Usman can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/10/injury-and-fitness-responsibility-through-biomedicine/. About the post: This is a reading of Ramsha Usman's post Injury and Fitness: Responsibility through Biomedicine.2022-10-0400 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastAll These Worlds Are Yours Except Europa: Building Colonies without ColonizationThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Savannah Mandel can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/09/all-these-worlds-are-yours-except-europa-building-colonies-without-colonization/. About the post: In her post, Savannah Mandel explores whether space colonies can be built without extending imperialist legacies.2022-09-1314 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPhotoshopping Desire: Gender, Caste, and the "Authentic" SelfThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Lakshita Malik can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/09/photoshopping-desire-gender-caste-and-the-authentic-self/. About the post: Lakshita Malik looks at the serious stakes of using “silly” filters on social media.2022-09-0600 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastInteractive Science Museums: Replicating Science Without a ContextThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by alejandra ruiz-leon can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/08/interactive-science-museums-replicating-science-without-a-context/. About the post: Alejandra Ruiz-Leon explores the popularization of interactive science museums, the version of science they claim to present, and the lessons of studying Latin America's first interactive science museum that opened in Peru in 1979.2022-08-2516 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPrEP on Trial: the Future of HIV in Indonesian Policy WorldsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Benjamin Hegarty can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/08/prep-on-trial-the-future-of-hiv-in-indonesian-policy-worlds/. About the post: Benjamin Hegarty reflects on an unfolding PrEP trial in Indonesia, asking what queer theories might emerge from engagement within such postcolonial contexts, where dynamic relations exist between social subjects and scientific objects framed through ongoing inequalities.2022-08-2317 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastCounting on Montane Birds: Biologists, Verticality, and Territorial Defense in ColombiaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ángela Castillo-Ardila can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/08/counting-on-montane-birds-biologists-verticality-and-territorial-defense-in-colombia/. About the post: Ángela Castillo-Ardilla's piece is about the unforeseen and sometimes overlooked connection between (i) birds living in the forests of Colombia’s high tropical Andes, (ii) local biologists supporting an anti-mining coalition by conducting an alternative baseline study, and (iii) the undertheorized production of upward. vertical territories.2022-08-0225 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPlatypod, Episode One: Technologies and Politics of AccessibilityIn this episode, Cassandra Hartblay and Zihao Lin are discussing the politics, research methodologies, and technologies around accessibility.
This episode was created with the participation of Cassandra Hartblay (University of Toronto, speaker) and Zihao Lin (University of Chicago, speaker), Kim Fernandes (University of Pennsylvania, host), Svetlana Borodina (Columbia University, host), Gebby Keny (Rice University, sound editor), and Angela VandenBroek (Texas State University, CASTAC web producer). Transcript available at https://blog.castac.org/2022/07/platypod-ep-1-technologies-and-politics-of-accessibility/ (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2022-07-2645 minPlatypod, The CASTAC Podcast(Mis)Managing Algorithms of Hate: The Nexus of Big Tech and the State in IndiaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Aishani Khurana can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/07/mismanaging-algorithms-of-hate-the-nexus-of-big-tech-and-the-state-in-india/. About the post: The authoritarian regimes, in compliance with big tech, set discursive boundaries for the minorities who not only suffer the brunt of online hate speech as victims in real life but also run the risk of being punished for dissent. The big tech social media platforms can be easily controlled by right-wing ideologies, thereby rendering minorities and civil society policed, trolled, disciplined, and terrorized on the digital platforms.2022-07-1909 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastThe Allowable Limit of DisabilityThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Gabrielle Hanley-Mott can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/06/the-allowable-limit-of-disability/. About the post: My argument here is that it is important to decouple physical pain from the idea of suffering; These dogs are in pain, and the process of commoditization, at the hands of humans, has led to their pain and suffering. But a rights-based campaign, which a legal case is, is often based in upholding hegemonic systems.2022-06-2212 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastDetangling Molecular Hauntings: Hair as a Site of Preserving Lived ExperienceThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Benjamin Schaefer can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/06/detangling-molecular-hauntings-hair-as-a-site-of-preserving-lived-experience/. About the post: Using ancient molecules, such as hormones, embedded in hair renders it possible to reconstruct the socially embodied lived experiences, by inferring their psychosocial stress responses, in the months leading up to their last haircut (or death).2022-06-1408 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastInclusion and Opportunities for Equal Participation for Autistic University Students in FranceThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Cara Ryan can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/06/inclusion-and-opportunities-for-equal-participation-for-autistic-university-students-in-france/. About the post: When a previously excluded group (like those identified as “aspies”) becomes “included” in something (like the French public university system) that something comes to be called “inclusive.” But inclusion, as Foucault and many others have pointed out always rests on a binary of inclusion/exclusion (Peters and Besley 2014). So while we might encounter the word “inclusion” and think “everyone,” that is never the case. In a sense then, “exclusion” is baked into every project of “i2022-06-0718 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastDiversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Epistemologies – The Line Between Bodies and Ideas?This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Nathan Klembara can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/05/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei-in-epistemologies-the-line-between-bodies-and-ideas/. About the post: If we are going to make archaeology, and other sciences, truly inclusive, DEI initiatives require reconceptualizing what science is, not just changing hiring and recruiting practices. To truly create inclusive research spaces, we must be accepting of both diverse bodies and diverse ideas.2022-05-3113 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastTechnologies of Equal Participation: Formats, Designs, Practices. Introduction.This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Svetlana Borodina can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/05/technologies-of-equal-participation-formats-designs-practices-introduction/. About the post: If Kelty looks back in time and offers a historical ethnography of participation in the Western world, the posts of this series look synchronically and laterally. From the broad range of calls for participation, a specific kind interests the authors whose work is featured in this series: those contexts where “equal participation” has been intentionally attempted or at least aspired for. The authors provide ethnographic insights from across the globe into how...2022-05-1707 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastViral Entanglements in Malaysian Porcine WorldsThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Kymberley Chu can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/05/viral-entanglements-in-malaysian-porcine-worlds/. About the post: A More-than-Human One Health approach encourages cooperation among humans and nonhumans in facilitating interspecies solidarity. Perhaps, we can start by imagining post-extractivist imaginaries beyond using a negative conceptual registry of post-apocalyptic worlds. Academic spaces have the intellectual and creative capacity to trace the life and death cycles of nonhuman animals beyond extractive narratives. As our worlds become more susceptible to pandemics, the porous demarcation between domesticated/wild and human/nonhuman reveals...2022-05-1214 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastThinking in Constellations: Problematizing Indigeneity in the Atacama Desert, ChileThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Valentina Moraima Acuña Bravo can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/05/thinking-in-constellations-problematizing-indigeneity-in-the-atacama-desert-chile/. About the post: Thinking in constellations allows us to delve into the unique experience and the history of different conceptions of indigeneity instead of focusing only on identifying specific characteristics of indigeneity. If we consider the constellation of concepts that indigeneity evokes, we can reconsider the possibilities of “indigenous” rights and policies. This implies avoiding totalizing definitions of indigeneity and moving toward recognizing the unique experience, history, and culture of places and p...2022-05-1017 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastRevisiting Human-Machine Relationships and Efforts of Feminist STSThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Doyeon Shin can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/05/revisiting-human-machine-relationships-and-efforts-of-feminist-sts/. About the post: Feminist STS perspectives and critiques are fundamental in this reimagining of human-machine relationships because they open new prospects for pondering related mainstream ideas while raising questions on what people perceive as natural and take for granted. Based on these feminist STS perspectives, I believe that we can propose different views and explanations of human-machine relationships. By focusing on relationality and not on novel functional developments, we may be able to view...2022-05-0310 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastAlliances and Institutional Partnerships for an Engaged Anthropology of Science and TechnologyThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Catarina Morawska, Ana Cecília Oliveira Campos, Bruno Campos Cardoso, Felipe Vander Velden, Gabriel Sanchez, Luisa Fanaro and Luisa Tui Sampaio can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/04/alliances-and-institutional-partnerships-for-an-engaged-anthropology-of-science-and-technology/. About the post: Conceptual transformations and emerging thematic agendas in the anthropology of science and technology become clearly visible in STS conferences. Paying particular attention to conferences that take place in the global South has the potential to open up an understanding of post-colonial scientific endeavors within our own field of expertise. A case in p...2022-04-2612 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastDisability DongleThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Liz Jackson, Alex Haagaard and Rua Williams can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/04/disability-dongle/. About the post: Disability Dongles are contemporary fairy tales that appeal to the abled imagination by presenting a heroic designer-protagonist whose prototype provides a techno-utopian (re)solution to the design problem. Disability Dongle rhetoric instills in students the value of a quick fix over structural change, thus preventing them from seeking out, participating in, and contributing to existing inquiry. By labeling these material-discursive phenomena—the designed artifacts and the di...2022-04-1935 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPowerpoint Karaoke, a Ph.D. VersionThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Zhou Zhou can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/04/powerpoint-karaoke-a-ph-d-version/. About the post: The only way to “lose” the game, we decided, would be to remain trapped in grad school forever — on every campus, there are stories of ghosts of former students or professors haunting certain buildings.2022-04-1410 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPeople Are Not Fixed MediaThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ritwik Banerji can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/04/people-are-not-fixed-media/. About the post: Fixed media are the dominant media form social scientists and humanists use to depict human practice. If the goal is to portray human beings as they are, the dominant media form used to do this in the humanities and social sciences is incommensurate with the basic indeterminacy and reactivity of the subject they attempt to represent: the human being.2022-04-1216 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastClimatic Futures and Tree Response-ability: Can Urban Forests Restore Human-Tree Relations?This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Tayeba Batool can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/04/climatic-futures-and-tree-response-ability-can-urban-forests-restore-human-tree-relations/. About the post: The consequences of afforestation projects such as the Miyawaki urban forests are larger than just a failure of scaling up or over-emphasizing effectiveness. The consequences lie at the heart of what we take for granted in environmental projects to encounter climate.2022-04-0514 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastTraveling but Not Arriving: Hieroglyphics of Caste in ComputingThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by P V can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/03/traveling-but-not-arriving-hieroglyphics-of-caste-in-computing/. About the post: If arrival is a trope to be appropriated in ethnographic writing, I want to underscore the value of traveling over arriving – more so for studying intangible things that “don’t exist” than those that do. In my fieldwork I am traveling the terrains of computing collecting traces across sites, spaces, places, corners, platforms, never entirely sure if what I am observing is about caste but trying to read for it against the grai...2022-03-2900 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastNetlicks and Chill: Digitalization and Food Politics in Taste the TV (TTTV) TechnologyThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam and Antonio Oraldi can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/03/netlicks-and-chill-digitalization-and-food-politics-in-taste-the-tv-tttv-technology/. About the post: TTTV allows the user to taste the flavors of a particular food depicted on it, thus giving a whole new level of possibilities to those interested in elevated multi-sensory experiences. Using preset chemical recipe mixtures distributed by ten flavor canisters onto a hygienic film, users simply lick the screen to taste the food of their choice — from chocolate to more elaborate local dishes. Like other technological in...2022-03-1518 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastEthnographies of Nuclear Life: From Victimhood to Post-VictimizationThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Maxime Polleri can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/03/ethnographies-of-nuclear-life-from-victimhood-to-post-victimization/. About the post: Many ethnographies of nuclear life are increasingly producing scholarships that precisely move beyond tropes of victimization and damaged biologies. This “post-victimization” approach is gaining a lot of momentum in anthropology. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2022-03-0120 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastFrom Amusement to Conscientization: The Purpose of Media Literacy in the Age of MisinformationThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Annie Arulraj can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/02/from-amusement-to-conscientization-the-purpose-of-media-literacy-in-the-age-of-misinformation/. About the post: Annie Sadhana writes about media literacy as a tool to promote critical action as well as communication technology and points out that learning this difference can bring about a change in the way people receive, consume and share information.2022-02-1513 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastQueered Ruptures: The Politics of Anti-irradiation Maternalism in the TEPCO Nuclear Disaster, Kokutai, and HentaiThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Tomoki Fukui can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/02/queered-ruptures-the-politics-of-anti-irradiation-maternalism-in-the-tepco-nuclear-disaster-kokutai-and-hentai/. About the post: This essay reflects on the significance of Chiharu’s description of herself and other women active in anti-irradiation efforts as hentai. It reflects on the sense that Japanese mothers who take issue with nuclear reconstruction in late capitalist Japan are perverse and aberrant. (This episode is available in additional languages on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.)2022-02-1017 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastReactions and Ruptures: Ethnographies of Nuclear LifeThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Timothy Neale and Catherine Trundle can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/02/reactions-and-ruptures-ethnographies-of-nuclear-life/. About the post: This upcoming series brings together three scholars—Tomoki Fukui, Maxime Polleri, and Kirsty Howey—whose ethnographic research focuses on life as it is entangled with the ruptures and reactions of nuclear materials, events, and places. In the series, they discuss how their work brings into question common understandings of nuclear events. Against common representations of such events as breaks or ruptures, these scholars show they are instead continuous with...2022-02-0108 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastPlatypus in 2022This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Svetlana Borodina can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2022/01/platypus-in-2022/. About the post: As the new year and the new semester have been off to (hopefully) a good start, Platypus is coming back to work too. Building on a decade of work (this year Platypus turns 10!), in 2022, we will continue our commitment to providing a platform for diverse voices and critical scholarship at the intersection of anthropology and STS.2022-01-2511 minPlatypod, The CASTAC PodcastA Very Lengthy Swedish Introduction: Hype, Storytelling, and the Question of Entrepreneurial AlliesThis bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Angela VandenBroek can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2021/08/a-very-lengthy-swedish-introduction-hype-storytelling-and-the-question-of-entrepreneurial-allies/. About the post: Hype storytelling permeates entrepreneurial spaces, from startup mission statements and investor pitches to marketing campaigns and exciting conversations over coffee. Unfortunately, the foregrounding of VC-friendly hype stories in entrepreneurial education has erased other forms of hype storytelling from discourse on what hype is and what it is for.2021-08-0313 min